Nielsen plans to capture online data

Nielsen is looking to help the drinks trade better understand online BWS sales by capturing data on this growing sector in 2012.

Nielsen is looking to help the drinks trade better understand online BWS sales by capturing data on this growing sector in 2012.

It hopes to support the drinks trade which is sorely lacking in data on how online retailers are performing, which could have an effect on average bottle prices, most popular countries and volume case size.

Nielsen's Gavin Humphreys told Harpers the plan was to focus on data from the major multiples, which had up to now been "fiercely protective" of the data.

He also hoped to be able to include data from internet-only or direct mail retailers, such as Direct Wines, the Wine Society or Naked Wines.

Michael Cox, European director of Wines of Chile, said that we could be missing data on 8 million to 9 million cases. "Not only would such information square the circle, it could substantially change the picture," he said.

He added that internet bottle sales generally command a higher average price, and sales could even skew the most popular wine-producing countries.

Dr Jeremy Howard, chief executive of Slurp, estimated the online wine market accounts for 10%-15% of UK off-trade sales. He agreed adding data from internet sales could fundamentally change the off-trade picture, saying the average bottle spend on his site is £8.50 and sales are heavily weighted towards New World wines.

IMRG Capgemini already analyses online retailers' BWS data and it shows the average basket spend was £107 in 2010 and in 2011 the sector overall grew 18% in Q1 and 30% in Q2 year on year.